Football FA Continues Working with NFL Stars Despite Two-Year-Long Split with Players Union

March 12, 2019

Breaking up with the NFL Players Association isn’t enough for a financial advisor to lose his NFL clients, recent news reports suggest.

The players union suspended Austin financial advisor Joey Feste in May 2017 from a program designed to protect athletes from bad advisors over false claim allegations, according to a letter from the union, which had never been made public but a copy of which was recently obtained by the Statesman.

The NFLPA claims Feste failed to mention he was involved in a lawsuit against a title loan corporation when asked whether he was part of any civil proceedings since initially registering with the program, the paper writes.

In addition, Feste apparently incorrectly stated he had a Washington state insurance license, the union claims in the letter cited by the Statesman. Furthermore, Feste allegedly used the NFLPA’s logo on the website of his firm KM Capital Management, the letter claims, according to the paper. Feste has been registered with KM Capital since November 2004, according to the SEC.

Feste and his lawyer tell the Statesman the NFLPA’s allegations were “minor administration errors” —and that the union in fact offered him money when the case went to mediation.

“I did not accept an offer because it was a matter of principle for me,” Feste tells the paper.

A spokesman for NFLPA declined comment to the Statesman, and several staff members in its legal department didn’t return the paper’s calls for comment.

Despite his suspension, Feste has continued working with NFL players, according to his Instagram account, the Statesman writes.

His clients — most of whom work with him through KM Capital, according to the captions on the photo-sharing network — include NFL MVP Patrick Mahomes, veteran quarterback Matt Schaub and 2018 first-round draft pick Marcus Davenport, according to the paper.

Schaub tells the Statesman that he’s aware of Feste’s split with the NFLPA but that the advisor is “family.”

“I’ve been working with him going on 16 years now,” Schaub tells the paper. “He has been nothing short of amazing with me, my wife and my family.”

Feste is currently “key” to a lawsuit involving New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees, $15 million worth of diamond purchases and at least three diamond dealers, the Statesman writes. Lawyers for one of the dealers say Feste withheld records he was required to hand over in December when he testified, according to a recent court filing cited by the paper.